Talk
by bubblegumpandabear
Summary: Uzumaki Naruto is a very talkative person...except for when it comes to talking about his harsh past. When his therapist realizes him and another patient have 'connected' lives, she makes them join sessions. At first, the both refuse to talk, but when people from both of their pasts come crawling back to them, they have to start talking. Or people will get hurt.
1. Chapter 1

So this is the other story I told you about :) It takes place in our world, not the ninja world. I think it'll be fun to make a Naruto story like that. This one would be longer than my first (I predict) and probably 20+ chapters. Hope you like it! :)

**Summary:** Uzumaki Naruto's had a hard life, and as a result, he has a therapist. Realizing Naruto and another patient of hers, Kakashi, are 'connected', she has them join sessions. At first, the both refuse to talk, but when people from both of their pasts come crawling back to them, they have to start talking, or people will get hurt.

**Chapter 1**

Naruto rushed into the subway, the doors nearly closing on his jacket. He sighed in relief and grabbed a hold of the pole in front of him, trying not to fall over as it began to move. Suddenly, classical began blasting form behind him, making him jump. Realizing where it was coming from, he growled. _Why is classical music blasting out of my ass?_

He'd received a text from his favorite person. Uchiha. _Get your ass over here before I hang it on my dining room wall dobe, _is what the lovey message read.

_Don't get your panties in a twist, teme._

_ Dumbass._

_ Asshat_

_That's not a word, smart one._

_Spell check didn't correct me, so it must be!_

There was a pregnant pause, and Naruto knew he caught him. _Whatever. Just get over here or I'll make a move on Sakura._ Naruto paled. He and just about anybody who met her knew about her 'secret' crush on the jerk. Naruto had liked her for years, but no. She like tall dark and handsome, not short blonde and cute. Whatever. _She doesn't know what she's missing_! Naruto thought to the tune of the song Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus.

He sent a warning text back and stuffed his phone in his back pocket, feeling like he just lost. He looked out the window and furrowed his eyebrows. _Wait…that didn't explain the classical music!_ He thought, reaching out to grab his phone and complain.

Suddenly, a sharp turn made him fall back onto something hard. "Get off of me." A voice sighed, pushing him away. He turned to the person behind him, surprised by their appearance. Their hair was spikey silver, which was strange, but not the strangest thing about them. The man wore a medical mask around his mouth and an eye patch around his eye. They were both white, and the eye patch had a band aid or something under it, on his eye, so it was obviously there because of eye problems. Maybe he was missing an eye?

The man stared at him lazily. Naruto backed away from him. "Sorry, I didn't mean to." He said, taking out his phone to send Sasuke an angry text. The man shrugged. "Just don't lean on me." He said, making Naruto narrow his eyes. "Look, I said I didn't mean to."

He shrugged again. "I know that, I just don't like people touching me. Please hold on the pole so you don't fall over again."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I'll hold onto the pole thingy." He said, deciding to switch Sasuke's ringtone from classical music to something funny. He smirked and selected a heavy scream song.

He sent the song to Sasuke with a message. _Suits you, doesn't it?_

_I like the classical more, _he quickly replied, making Naruto frown. _You didn't even listen to it, did you?_ He asked. After a little bit, Sasuke replied. _Is this some kind of joke? Dobe, it'd take more than that to make me mad._

Naruto laughed, knowing that was code for 'I'm going to change it the second you turn around'.

He heard a sigh over his shoulder. He jumped forward and turned to glare at the man behind him. "What the hell?"

"Your taste is music is not what I would have expected." The man replied simply.

"What the fuck!? Were you looking over my shoulder!?" The man shrugged, looking bored. "Ugh, no. No, no, no, no, no." Naruto growled, shaking his head. He looked at the door, checking to see what the next stop was. It was a block away from his destination, and decided five extra minutes with the subway freak was not worth getting there faster.

The man leaned forward again, and he glared. "No. Stay away from me." The man didn't comply, and leaned past Naruto, looking out the subway window. Naruto pressed his back against the wall, not liking a stranger that close to him. He'd come to not trust strangers, even though he was generally a very friendly guy.

"Hey, I'm not going to bite you." The man said, noticing Naruto all but cowering away from him. Naruto shook his head, not really believing it. The announcement came that they'd reached the next stop, and the doors opened. Naruto dashed out of the door, pissed at the freak.

He ran all the way to school, barely on time. He glared at Sasuke, who was laughing at him. "Jerk." Naruto growled, but he wasn't referring to Sasuke. Kiba leaned forward and tapped him on the shoulder. "Dude, what's wrong?"

"There was this freak in the subway. He was breathing all over my shoulder, watching me text Sasuke." He said, making Sakura narrow her eyes. "That's creepy." She said, looking at him worriedly. "Are you ok?"

Naruto snorted. "Of course." He assured her. "He looked like a business man or something." He added as an afterthought. Sakura frowned. "That makes it…even creepier." She said, but before she could say anything else, the professor walked in and began class.

~.~.~

"Naruto, why are you here?" Sasuke asked, referring to the fact Naruto was laying on his couch. Naruto was currently replying to a text from Tsunade, but he didn't want Sasuke to know that so he shrugged. "Surfing the internet." He replied lazily. Sasuke snorted. "You're so lazy." He stated, going back to whatever it is Uchihas do in their free time.

The true reason as to why Naruto was lounging around on Sasuke's dorm room couch was because he had nowhere else to go. After he'd been released to the world from his orphanage, he'd been accepted into college with a scholarship. The scholarship was good enough that if he kept his grades up, he wouldn't have to pay for anything as long as he only went to school there, and didn't apply for rooming or anything else. So he got a job as a waiter to pay the bills for his Apartment, and the food he had to buy. Money was tight, but he refused to open the bank account of money his parents had apparently left to him. He didn't deserve their money.

"Yo, dobe, Sakura wants to go eat." Sasuke called over to him. Checking the time, Naruto noticed he had to go to Tsunade before she blew a gasket. "Nah, I've got to get to work." He said, smoothing out his clothes. Sasuke shrugged, looking back at his computer. "See you later."

"Meh." Naruto lazily mumbled, slipping on his sneakers and hoodie. He decided to skip out on the subway after the incident that happened that morning, and ran the thirteen blocks down the street to Tsunade's office. The usual girl at the front desk nodded her head at the sight of him trying to find his way through the confusing revolving doors. _God, I hate these things._ He thought grimily, feeling like an idiot for getting lost in a doorway.

Finally hurrying to the elevator, he pressed the button for the top floor. At the sight of his golden hair, Tsunade's assistant, Shizune, got up from her desk and opened the doorway for him. He thanked her and shuffled into his therapist's large office.

Her office was more like a contemporary living room, as she was a very well-known therapist who offered to take him on when doctors prescribed it. _Thank God for insurance_ was his thought when she revealed how much people usually paid for her to give them advice.

"Naruto. You're just on time. I thought you'd be late today." She said, narrowing her eyes at him. He shivered and sat on the black leather couch. There was another chair for her to sit in across from him with a table that had a box of tissues on it. Floor to ceiling windows gave a great view of the city, and let in the right amount of natural light. A TV hung in the corner with a mini fridge he knew was filled with beers. There was a water dispenser next to the window on a little table, with several glass cups.

Naruto chuckled. "I'm on time. I had to run here though."

"Why?" She asked, lowering the glasses on her nose to look at him. Naruto smiled. She was quite a character, with the biggest boobs he'd ever seen and her hair always in two low pigtails. Strangely, it didn't look childish on her. She had a tattoo of a blue diamond on her forehead, which he had to admit he'd never noticed until she pointed it out. She never told him why she got it, but then again, she was the therapist, not him.

"I ran into a freak on the subway today. He was breathing all over me and watching me text Sasuke over my shoulder." He admitted. She leaned forward, knowing how it probably affected him more than he was letting on. "Are you ok?" She asked. He nodded. "I'm fine."

They spoke about the incident thirty minutes longer than Naruto would have liked to, and he became annoyed. "Listen Tsunade, it was an annoying incident and if I ever see that guy again, I'll sock him! But it didn't make me uncomfortable or anything. I am perfectly fine!"

Tsunade was about to protest when the door opened, and in walked the topic of the day. "YOU!" Naruto yelled, making Tsunade jump. He nearly lunged for the guy but Tsunade sent him a warning glare that made him sit. "What is going on?" She asked the man. He shrugged.

"I have no idea. Wait…he was on the subway this morning." He said, making Naruto roll his eyes. "What a load of bull. You recognized me the second you saw me." He said, making the guy raise an eyebrow. "Uh huh. And how do you know that?"

"Your expression, creep." The man nodded thoughtfully at the words. "You must be very observant." Naruto didn't reply.

Suddenly, Tsunade began laughing. "What's so funny?" Naruto asked. She smirked at him. "We just talked for thirty-seven minutes about absolutely nothing. If Kakashi was the one who was looking over your shoulder, it's fine. He's a good guy. Strange, but good." She said, smiling at the older man. She looked at her watch. "Ok, I want you two to answer the questions with each other on these papers. I have to do something, I'll be right back." She got up to leave but gave them a warning glare before closing the door. "I expect them to be complete by the time I come back." She stated, then left them alone.

"Want a beer?" Naruto asked, making himself comfy. "Uh, no. I'm pretty sure you shouldn't be drinking, but whatever." Naruto rolled his eyes. "I was just asking you if you wanted one, not to join me in drinking one. I don't drink."

Kakashi lazily sat down next to Naruto on the couch and grabbed a pen from the table. "What is your name?"

"Uzumaki Naruto. What's yours?"

The man didn't answer for a bit, then finally answered. "Hatake Kakashi."

"How old are you? I'm 26."

"I'm 19." Naruto said, filling out the answers on his paper. "Why do you take therapy…?" Naruto asked, looking at him.

The man raised an eyebrow at the question. "I don't want to answer that one." Naruto shook his head. "Me neither."

They moved on, answering questions about their favorite colors, foods, and animals. Naruto like orange, ramen, and foxes while Kakashi said favorites were too confining. But he did like dogs.

"Family?" Kakashi asked, and Naruto paused. "I have no family." Kakashi furrowed his eyebrows. "Nobody? No aunt, grandmother, or long lost pet turtle?" Naruto didn't laugh at the joke. "No. I'm by myself."

"Least we have one thing in common." Kakashi muttered under his breath. They finished their papers just as Tsunade came walking in again. She ignored their questioning looks and snatched the papers from their hands. Looking over them she made a few faces and agreements with their answers. Finally, she looked back at them.

"You two did as expected. You pass."

"Huh?"

"From now on," She said, ignoring their confusion, "You two will be doing your therapeutic sessions together. I think you two will greatly help each other."

"What!?"

~.~.~

"We're going to hang out later today, want to come?" Ino asked Naruto, and everyone turned to look at him. Even Gaara confirmed he was going, which was saying something since the boy never really went anywhere until Naruto said he was.

The problem with his current situation was Tsunade's set up. She wanted her and Kakashi to be each other's therapists. She claimed that since their stories connected, they should help each other. They had no idea what that meant, but they didn't want to face her wrath if they didn't comply.

She gave them more papers and said she expected them to come back next week, same time, same day, no exceptions. If they didn't have the papers filled out, she'd have them transferred to the therapist the floor down who was known for being very blunt and annoying. So today, in order to get their stacks of papers done, they decided to meet up and try to finish them all in one go.

"Uh…I'm meeting an old friend today." He said, wishing he didn't ask Kakashi to come get him. His friends were showing no sign of leaving and he really didn't want them knowing about it.

"Who?" Kiba asked, leaning forward. Then his eyes widened and he gasped. "Oh my God." Everyone turned to him. "Does our Naru finally have a date!?" Naruto rolled his eyes.

"I've been on dates before you jerk."

"But you've never said no to us for them, so she must be something special."

"Whatever. I have to go." He said, getting up to leave, but Shikamaru's genius began to shine. "Naruto…are you hiding something?"

Naruto turned to glare at him. "I'm meeting another friend. If I don't go meet him, he'll come find me and I don't want that."

"Why?" Ino asked, looking at him curiously. "Why what?"

"Why don't you want him coming to get you?" She asked again. Naruto shoved all of his stuff in his back pack and narrowed his eyes. "Cuz he's a freak, that's why."

"Why are you friends with a freak, Naruto?" Shino asked, his sunglasses pointed in his direction. "You're the one to ask that bug boy." Naruto countered, throwing his bag over his shoulder. "Bye!"

He rushed out of the class room before they could stop him and ran smack into something hard. He looked up to see his favorite silver haired therapy partner. Holding an ice cream cone. He eyed the cone, then the medical mask covering his mouth. "Naruto!" he heard Kiba call after him. He cursed, grabbing Kakashi and dragging him off of the campus.

When they were far enough away he didn't think they'd be found, Naruto snatched the ice cream out of Kakashi's hand. Kakashi tried to protest, but Naruto was already licking it. "I love mint." He whispered, chewing on the chunks of white chocolate.

"That wasn't for you." Kakashi pouted.

"Not like you were going to eat it." Naruto pointed out, gesturing to his mask. Even though he'd only seen Kakashi for two hours in a therapeutic office, he had come to realize Kakashi never took off the medical mask so he could hide his face.

Today, Kakashi wasn't dressed in a suit and tie. He was dressed in a simple hoodie, jeans, and sneakers. He had a scarf wrapped around his neck. It made him look more like a 24 year old than a 26 year old, but Naruto was sure there wasn't much of a difference.

Kakashi kept staring at the ice cream. "I liked that, you know?" Naruto snorted. "Whatever." Kakashi stared, surprised. "God, you kids these days. I could have some kind of disease that could kill you and now you're eating it."

"First, I'm not a kid. I'm going to turn 20 soon. And second, I don't really care. Death would be an invitation to happiness for me." Naruto said rather cheerily, creeping Kakashi out. To him, Naruto was some kid whose rich parents put him through therapy when he was having behavioral issues. He probably was barely gliding his way through college and didn't have a clue about the real world. It kind of pissed him off the kid was so care free, but he didn't let it show. He just wanted to finish his mandatory therapy and continue his life.

Naruto looked around, trying to figure out where they were. Spotting his favorite restaurant, he ran straight through the doors. Kakashi followed him warily, wanting to go home. Immediently, Naruto hugged Ichiraku and Ayame hello. "I haven't seen you guys in forever!"

"Our best customer!" Ichiraku exclaimed, happy to see him. "It's been too long, Naruto." He said, looking at him. "Who's this?" He asked, noticing Kakashi, who felt out of place.

"He's a friend." Ichiraku nodded. "You want the usual?" Naruto nodded, handing him a ten dollar bill. Kakashi awkwardly watched him and Ayame whisper to each other about something while he tried to read the menu. He eventually asked for the same thing Naruto got and brought out a pen.

"Ok, so she wrote a note here that we have to eventually talk about our past."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "No, I don't want to." Kakashi sighed, flipping to the next page…then the next…then the next. Finally, he reached something that doesn't have to do too much with their past. "Ok, so here's something. Talk about your family." Naruto shook his head. "If I go first, will you participate?"

Naruto stared at him for a bit, then shook his head. "I can't." Kakashi rolled his eyes and went first anyway. "My mom died when I was born, so I lived with my dad my whole life. His parents already died, along with my mom's, so I didn't have any grandparents. They were both only children, so my dad was really the only family I had. He died when I was thirteen."

Naruto raised his eyebrows, but didn't say anything. Kakashi flipped through the papers and came across another thing. "You know what? Let's just talk about ourselves and hope we answer all the questions."

Naruto turned back to him. _Can I trust this guy? He's so….strange._ He thought, narrowing his eyes. Then he thought about what would happen if he didn't make any progress. Tsunade would throw a fit! He reluctantly nodded.

~.~.~

Naruto cringed at the look Tsunade was sending him. "Why is it the only thing filled out here is the family section? For Kakashi?" The two boys shrunk back as she sent them each a withering glare. "Kakashi, I know this is gaki's fault." She growled, making Naruto bit his bottom lip.

"You need to get over this, Naruto. If you don't tell someone, you won't get anywhere. I know the majority of the story, but you need to fill the holes so I can help you." She said softly. He shook his head, making her sigh. "You two are _connected._" She insisted. "You can help each other!" Naruto shook his head again. "That's it. You," She said, pointing to Kakashi, "Are going to sleep at this guy's house until he cracks and says something."

"If I don't?" Kakashi asked, not wanting to participate in a sleepover. She grinned evilly. "I'll recommend you for two more months." He sat up straight. "You wouldn't." She nodded. "I would." He watched her carefully, reaching a decision.

~.~.~

"You ass." Kakashi grumbled, lugging a bag over his shoulder. Naruto shrugged, unlocking the door to his apartment. Kakashi looked around, surprised it was relatively clean. He expected there to be friends sleeping on the floor, surrounded by junk food and beer bottles. Instead of the typical boyish mess he expected, it was like a show house. There weren't even dishes in the sink. He quickly leaned why.

"Nobody ever comes over. I don't like that. So I don't usually use the dishes. They're for in case I were let someone in." He explained, pulling two plates from the cabinet. Kakashi sat on the couch, not sure what to do. He would take tomorrow off work to get the kid to talk, but what would he do after that? He can't use up all of his sick days to babysit!

"Uh, listen, I have a job…and a life…so I'm going to need you to start talking." Naruto paused. "I'm really sorry…I just can't…" Naruto trailed off, heating up leftovers. Just when Naruto thought it couldn't get any more awkward, _All Those Friendly People _by _Funeral Suits_ began playing quite loudly. Realizing that was the ring tone for Ino, he answered. Things would not go well if he didn't answer her calls.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Naruto…" Her voice growled.

"What?"

"I think I need to kidnap you again." She said, hence her ringtone. He paled. "Not again."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes!"

"No way, Ino. Last time we got horribly lost and almost _died!_"

She laughed. "You're so overdramatic. We didn't almost die, we just saw a bear. But I was just joking, so you can chill out. What I really called for was to see if you could come over."

He looked at Kakashi, narrowing his eyes. "No…I have a new pet I'm afraid to leave alone in my house." He said, making Kakashi look at him on confusion.

"What? When did you get a pet!?"

"No, no. I'm watching it for someone. It'll be gone after a while, but I can't leave it alone. So I can't come over." Ino made a pouting sound, then wished him luck on the pet and said bye.

"Who was that, and why did you tell them I'm your pet?" Kakashi asked. Naruto took his phone out again, and showed him a picture of Ino. "It was Ino." Kakashi looked knowingly at him. "So, she's your girlfriend?" He asked, making Naruto laugh. "No way. She's just a friend."

"Really?" Kakashi asked again, knowing there had to be something more to it. "Yep. I mean, I hang out with a lot of girls I'm not in a relationship with. In fact, I'm not in a relationship at all."

Eventually, Kakashi's questions were bugging him and he gave him the 101 on all his friends. "This is Sasuke and Sakura. I used to like Sakura, but I think of her more as a sister now. Sasuke is my best friend, but we're always arguing and fighting. I guess it's how we show our love." He said, smiling, then he frowned. "Don't tell anyone I said that."

He showed another picture. "This is Neji, Rock Lee, and Tenten. Tenten is Neji's girlfriend, and Neji is an antisocial jerk like Sasuke. We get along without fighting, though. Rock Lee is obsessed with Gai, his role model and one of our professors. He's crazy, but you've got to like him."

He switched pictures and smirked. "This is Kiba, Hinata, and Shino. Shino's kind of creepy because he's got a lot of crazy bug collections. Hinata is Neji's cousin, and she's dating Kiba, who loves animals. Akamaru is his horse sized dog you see there in the corner."

Naruto found another picture with Ino. "Like I said, that's Ino. She's pretty cool, but she tends to randomly go on road trips to the middle of nowhere. They," He said, pointing to the two boys, "Are Shikamaru and Chouji. Shikamaru is the laziest person you will ever meet. He watches the clouds like it's a competitive game he could get in the Olympics for. But don't let that fool you. He's a super genius with an IQ of over 200. He just decided not to skip grades because he knew it'd be more work. Chouji looks like he's chubby, but it's all muscle. It _used _to be all fat, so he's really sensitive about the subject. Call him fat, and he'll show you what 15 years of wrestling can do."

Finally, he'd reached the siblings. "This is Gaara, Temari and Kankuro. Kankuro still plays with dolls, but he prefers to calls himself a puppeteer. I think it's creepy, but whatever. Temari is totally badass and practices some kind of style of traditional dance that you use cool Asian-like fans in. Gaara is my other best friend. When I'm having trouble, I go to him. People think he's scary, since he's a bit of a violent insomniac and has a history of beating people to near death, but other than that he's cool."

"And last but not least," Naruto began, showing him a picture of the last two people, "This is Jiraiya and Killer Bee. Killer Bee, if you haven't heard of him, is a pretty famous rapper. How we became friend, I have no idea, but he's awesome. He only talks in raps, though, so you've got to pay attention to what he says. Jiraiya is an old pervert. He's always hitting on girls waaaaay younger than him, and writing stupid porn books. Don't tell Tsunade I told you about him, because he's always hitting on her and they went to school together. He's just as great a therapist as she is, and it bugs her."

"Wait…" Kakashi said, looking at the photo. "He writes the Icha Icha books, right?" Naruto glared at him. "Hell. No."

"What?"

"I can't believe you like that crap."

"It's good!" Kakashi protested, making Naruto wrinkle his nose in disgust. "It has absolutely no plot. Just never ending unrealistic porn scenes."

"So?" Kakashi asked, lazily eyeing the younger boy. "What do you mean, so? I spent three years watching him write the two new books. They're nasty."

Kakashi shrugged. "I like them. And they obviously sell well, so other people must like them too."

Naruto rolled his eyes and turned off his phone. He disappeared into his room, then came back holding a stack of red, orange, green, blue, and purple books. Kakashi's eyes widened. Naruto placed them down on the couch for the man to see, listing the titles in no specific order. "Icha Icha tactics, Icha Icha Paradise, Icha Icha Violence, Icha Icha promise, and Icha Icha days. I hate these books. He keeps sending me his revised chapters and the final copies. What I hate even more is that I was named after the main character."

"So technically it's you whose-"

"No!" Naruto cut him off. "You can read them, if you want. Just don't keep them. Jiraiya would be sad if I gave them away."

Kakashi shrugged, not touching them. He didn't want to read them before they came out…did he? _Staying here is going to be harder than I thought._ He thought to himself, looking out the window.

Naruto sighed. How was he going to keep Kakashi a secret? He didn't want his friends knowing the man, but he also didn't want Tsunade to kick his ass. His phone began emitting a different ringtone, and he knew Kiba was calling. _God, I need to get them off my back,_ He thought. He didn't know how he would keep everyone off his back.

~.~.~

"Naruto!" Sakura growled, trying to catch up with the blonde. "Get back here!" She yelled, making him finally stop walking. "Gee, Naruto, we've been trying to find you for a while now!" She yelled, the other catching up with her.

"Come on, we're all going to the strip for a while. Come with us!" Naruto began to protest, but Kiba shook his head. "Oh, no. No, no, no. You're coming with us tonight." He said, pulling Naruto with him down the street.

"No, I should really get back home…" He trailed off at the glares his friends gave him. Shikamaru shook his head. "We all know you're hiding something, but we won't pressure you until you tell us on your own. But we don't like that you're avoiding us."

Naruto didn't reply. He felt guilty he hadn't been talking to them. "Ok." He gave in. "Just let me make a call." He said, backing away a bit.

He dialed Kakashi's number (they exchanged numbers when they realized they were stuck with each other) and waited for someone to answer. When the ringing stopped, he looked at the phone in confusion. "Hello?"

"Yes?" Was the man's voice, annoying the crap out of Naruto. "Ok, you need to answer the phone like a normal person." He didn't get a reply, so he continued talking. "I'm going to come home late tonight, I'm hanging out with my friends. If you touch _anything_, I will _castrate_ you, got it!?"

"Wait, what? Where are you going?" Naruto didn't answer and ended the call. He didn't want to explain everything to the man who was sleeping in _his_ apartment eating _his_ food and using _his_ electricity.

"Ready?" Ino asked, tugging a shy Hinata along with her. "Yeah." Naruto said, following his friends down the subway stairs.

The strip was not at all what it sounded like. It was a street that had lots of things to do on it like; bowling, movies, restaurants, shopping, gaming, clubbing, drinking, and pretty much anything you could think of. Everyone in the city called it the strip because it was a long strip of the city that literally radiated pure fun.

They first watched a movie of the girl's choice, then left to get something to eat. "I think I'll have the BLT." Naruto said, surprising his friends. He almost always ordered soup. Gaara sent him a knowing look.

"What?" He asked the red head. Gaara sent him another look and Naruto narrowed his eyes. They exchanged more looks until Sakura snapped her fingers between their faces. "God, you two are like cavemen; communicating with looks and gestures."

Gaara gave her a blank look and Naruto smirked. "He says you're annoying." She rolled her eyes. "I think you two can read minds. That's the only explanation I have for this."

Ino leaned forward. "Nah, I think they're just practically brothers." She patted Sasuke on the shoulder. "It's ok. You're still his best friend."

"I don't need to read his mind to know there's nothing in it." Sasuke replied, looking bored. Naruto smirked. "Yeah, yeah, whatever teme."

They continued to joke around a while, then moved on to walking around after they finished their food. Realizing what time it was, they all decided it would be best to leave. "Naruto! We missed you! You better hang out with us more often!" Ino cooed, hugging him. Hinata sent him a look, holding Kiba's hand. "I don't know if Kiba can last without pulling pranks with you, Naruto. You're going to need to relax a bit and act like a teenager more." She joked, smiling at him.

"Naruto! Your youthful days will be gone in a flash if you neglect the proper relaxing outings with your friends!" Lee yelled, receiving a few strange looks. Naruto smiled and nodded, patting him on the back.

He split away from the group and took the subway back home, glad to have finally had some fun. He unlocked his door, surprised to see Kakashi sitting on the couch reading one of the new Icha Icha. "So you gave in?"

Kakashi turned to him, narrowing his eyes. "I thought you didn't drink?"

"I don't."

"Then why were you hanging out until one in the morning?" He asked, suspicious of the younger man's actions. Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Uh, since when did you become my mother?" He growled, tugging off his jacket. "We just went out to see a move, then we got some food. After that we just walked around the strip for a while. Plus, you're forgetting I'm 19, almost 20." Naruto was getting suck of reminding him of this. Did he look like he was a kid or something?

Kakashi shrugged. "Shouldn't you be more focused on your grades?" He quickly realized he asked the wrong thing when Naruto's blue eyes turned icy and dangerous. "This was the first time I've hung out with this in the past month because I've been trying to balance a job, therapy, you, school, and other crap I have to put up with." He growled, slamming the door to his bedroom.

Kakashi looked at the door, wondering where he was going to sleep. Deciding the couch was fine, he turned off the lights and stared at the ceiling, wondering why Naruto was in therapy in the first place. His first impression of the boy was some kid who doesn't take anything seriously. He was beginning to question that.

~.~.~

So what do you think? Do you like it? I made the chapter longer, just at promised. Comments and reviews are welcomed :)


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Sorry I haven't updated! My sister just came back home, and my mom decided that she should go visit my grandparents since she hadn't seen them in a while. Since she didn't want her to go by herself, guess who went with her? That's right, me! It's was pretty fun and I got to hold alligators and pet a peacock. But, that is why I have not updated in so long. Thanks for sticking with me! XD

**~.~.~**

Screams. Throat ripping screams that woke Kakashi from his sleep. Naruto hadn't been talking to him for the past week, and he was beginning to get used to taking the subway to work. He practically lived on the couch of Naruto's apartment now. So the unsettling screams that awoke him from his peaceful sleep made him fall off the couch and smack his head on the coffee table.

He burst into the room Naruto slept in, only to trip over mounds of crap on the floor. He looked around, confused. Everything was extremely clean, but Naruto's room looked like a war zone. It wasn't clothes that littered the floor, but books, papers, discs and all kinds of junk.

He rushed to Naruto's bed, shaking the boy awake, and a sudden jerk forward collided their heads. "Whoa, ouch! Naruto are you ok!?" He asked to boy, who was shaking violently. He curled up into a ball, burying his head into his knees.

"Are you ok?" Kakashi asked again, rubbing Naruto's back. Naruto looked back up at him, wiping tears from his eyes that wouldn't stop. He pulled a surprised Kakashi into a tight hug, forcing Kakashi to lay next to him. He sat there for a while, then realizing Naruto had fallen asleep, allowed himself to do the same.

~.~.~

Naruto was creeped out. He wasn't creeped out that Kakashi and him were practically cuddling, with theirs wrapped around each other and their legs tangled up. No, he was creeped out that he wasn't creeped out…if that made sense. He took a deep breath, immediently regretting it. Kakashi smelled _really_ good. He smelled like mint water, which was extremely calming.

He brushed his hand over Kakashi's silver hair, surprised it was so soft. Suddenly, Kakashi opened his eye and watched as Naruto raked his hand through Kakashi's hair. "You like my hair?" He asked, watching in amusement as Naruto jerked back.

"It's really soft." He whispered, hiding his blushing face. Naruto buried his head in Kakashi's chest, wanting to go back to sleep. Only, his alarm clock kept that from happening. He groaned and shuffled out of bed, shuffling through his dresser. "Why do you have all this junk on the ground?" Kakashi asked, looking at a textbook that rested on top of another book.

"I haven't gotten around to cleaning my room yet." He said sheepishly, tugging his shirt off. Kakashi looked at Naruto's back, confused with all of the scars he had. His eyes widened when he turned around. Naruto had a giant tattoo on his stomach that resembles that of a sun, swirling around his belly button.

"You have a tattoo." He said, shocked. Naruto smiled, looking at his stomach. "Yeah, it's a long story."

"You seem to have a lot of them." Kakashi said, making Naruto shrug. "My life is super complicated." He said, buttoning a white shirt over his torso, and tugging on a pair of black dress pants over his bright orange boxers.

"Ok, I'm going to work. Please try not to do anything strange." Kakashi eyed him strangely. "Where do you work?"

Naruto pulled a black vest over his shirt, then a bright blue tie around his neck. "A really fancy restaurant where customers give friendly waiters big tips." He smiled, and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. Kakashi kicked the covers off himself, deciding he should start on his job as well. He didn't have to go to work that day, but he did have some extra assignments to work on.

He sighed, staring at the papers on the ground. Naruto wouldn't like if he went searching through his stuff…but he picked one up, anyway. The paper, like the others he picked up, were all school related. All of them were either typed or hand written notes he suspected Naruto had taken for his college classes. _I guess he has been studying, hasn't he?_ He thought to himself. _Makes me feel bad for judging him._

~.~.~

Naruto tried to not shiver while Sakura sent him an icy look. "What's wrong?" He finally got the courage to ask. Her glare softened, and she looked at Shikamaru, who shrugged. "It's because you look like you were crying, but you're acting like you're alright."

Naruto rubbed at his cheeks, embarrassed they could tell. Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Trouble in paradise?"

"Huh? I don't have a girlfriend." He said, completely confused. "Oh, come on Naruto." Kiba said, smirking. "You don't have to pretend. We all know you're seeing someone. It's pretty obvious. You suck at keeping secrets." _If only you knew…_ Naruto thought, thinking about the years he'd known these people and many secrets he'd kept.

Naruto settled on rolling his eyes. "I have no girlfriend. If I did, I would tell you guys." Which he would, unless they met through Tsunade. Then he'd hide the girl like a teenager hides their embarrassing baby albums.

They all nodded their heads as if to say 'sure, whatever you say.' He sighed, wishing for class to end. Their professor had the habit of lecturing them, then getting wildly off topic. While they were _supposed_ to be talking about World History, the topic switched from that of ancient Egyptians, to medieval China, to modern warfare (yes, the video game), to the reasons why Aliens have not yet contacted earth.

Finally, the lecture ended and he was allowed to leave. He had another class later that day, so he stuck with Gaara and went into his dorm room for some peace and quiet. Even though everyone was friends with him, he still scared him and threatened to kill anyone who entered his room. They didn't know whether or not to believe him, so they just complied. Except for Naruto. Naruto was the only exception in Gaara's threats.

The two boys sat on Gaara's bed, surfing through random YouTube videos. "You've been upset." Gaara whispered. Like Tsunade, Gaara knew the story of Naruto's past. He understood Naruto's troubles, so he had the best advice for him. "Tsunade gave me a therapy partner. His name's Kakashi, and he has to live in my apartment until I talk."

Gaara's eyes widened slightly. "That's not very safe. Are you ok? Did he do something?" Naruto shook his head. "Nah. He won't talk either, so we're even. In fact, he's pretty cool. I had a nightmare last night, and he helped me fall asleep again." He said, not mentioning exactly how Kakashi helped.

Gaara eyed him for a moment then switched YouTube videos. "I want to meet him." He said, surprising the blonde. "Huh?"

"I want to meet this Kakashi."

"Well...if you really want to." He said. Gaara nodded. "I'm not sure I trust this. Tsunade's a smart woman and she treats you like her own kid, but…" He trailed off, looking at the wall. "Come on, it's time to go to class. I'll let you meet him afterward."

~.~.~

Kakashi took a step backward. He thought he was opening the door for Naruto, not Naruto and his violent-insomniac friend. He'd seen a lot of frightening things in his life, but the glare this Gaara boy was giving him made him shiver. "Hi." He said, trying to be friendly.

"I don't trust you." Gaara said, his glare growing meaner. Kakashi paled. "Huh?"

"If you hurt him. I will crush you." He stated bluntly, making Kakashi lean back in the chair. He had no doubt this boy would indeed crush him…whatever that meant. He watched in horror as Naruto ruffled the red head's hair and called him an overprotective brother.

"I don't trust him." Gaara said to Naruto. Naruto rolled his eyes, not wanting to hear it. "Why does everyone treat me like a child?"

"You have the mind of one, so…" Gaara said, standing up to get some water. Naruto glared at him, and turned to Kakashi. "He's alright. He won't really hurt you, so don't worry."

"Are you sure? He looked pretty serious." Kakashi whispered back. Naruto nodded. "I thought you didn't let people in your apartment." Kakashi said a bit louder.

"Gaara's the exception. Him, Jiraiya, and Tsunade." Kakashi shrugged, not wanting to press. "Why are you friends with him if he's supposedly super violent."

Gaara spoke up before Naruto could give some excuse not to. "We hated each other at first. I just transferred to his school and I was constantly getting in fights with people, including Sasuke and Rock Lee. After that, Naruto decided he needed to stop me, and we ended up getting in a fight." Gaara looked at Naruto and smirked. "I was admitted into the hospital."

Kakashi raised his eyebrows. "Seriously?" Gaara nodded. "It took a while to convince the school we didn't get in a fight and we just fell in a dangerous place, or something. People say I'm the violent one, but I think Naruto is worse. He'll just sit there and take anything until you do something like break his friend's leg. Then he goes ape shit."

Kakashi looked at Naruto. The boy didn't seem like the kind of person who could withstand a fight. He was pretty lean, but too nice looking. He looked like the kind of person who would pause before finishing a punch, because he wouldn't want to hurt someone.

Gaara looked like the kind of person who would beat you up for sneezing in his presence. He was a tiny bit taller than Naruto, and the dark rings around his eyes made him look intimidating. The tattoo on his forehead was just icing on a cake of creepiness.

"That's…interesting." Kakashi finally said. At least he was one step forward to learning about Naruto so he could finally go home. Naruto gave Gaara a look that proved he wasn't exactly thrilled with the telling of the story. "Ok, so you've met now." Naruto sighed in a casual tone.

Gaara rolled his eyes. "You want me to leave." He said, walking to the door. "That's ok. I'll be back." He warned, sending Kakashi a warning glare. Never before had he felt so guilty when he hadn't done anything….yet.

He watched Gaara leave, half expecting him to come bursting back into the apartment. When he didn't, he turned to face Naruto. "You beat _him_ up?" He asked, not sure if he should believe it or not. Instead of answering, Naruto snatched the laptop out of Kakashi's hands.

"You're writing a book?"

"…" Kakashi didn't keep his job a secret, but he had to admit something about the kid seeing his work made him uncomfortable. Which was new, since he usually really encouraged people to critique his stuff.

"No need to be shy, it's pretty good! It's…it's a realistic romance. Not all of that met-two-weeks-ago-but-we-can't-get-enough-of-each- other-passion-shit." Kakashi blinked. "I…uh..." He began, but before he could say anything else, Naruto cut him off.

"I mean, I don't care what age the characters are. It's ridiculous when an author writes a book and uses the words 'irresistible,' 'Passion,' and 'just met' in the same sentence." Kakashi refrained from telling him 'just' and 'met' were two words.

"I like that in your book, they take the times to learn about each other before sucking face."

"Yeah, I get it Naruto, thanks. I agree."

Naruto sent him a look. "Then why do you read the pervert's shit?"

Kakashi gently yanked his laptop away from Naruto and continued working. "I am an author. I have many best sellers, too. I need to read what people are into these days to keep my job." He sighed. "And I like to read." He added as a second thought. It wasn't that great of a thought, as Naruto threw a pillow at him.

"UGH! I traveled with the man for _three years!_ That stuff is so overrated and unrealistic, it's ridiculous! You want to know a secret?"

Kakashi didn't want to know the secret, but Naruto told him anyway, as he was cut off before he could actually answer. "He travels the world learning about people's dirtiest, deepest, kinkiest fantasies. He just straight out asks people, then takes the most common ones and mushes in the less common, but more unique, and voila! He's got a book!"

Kakashi grimaced. _There goes my respect for….wait…traveled for three years? Huh?_ "…I mean, he makes a ton of it up, so he's got a pretty big imagination for it, but the _actions_ in his books are just based off-"

"What do you mean by three years?" Kakashi cut in. Naruto blinked. He cursed and walked back to the kitchen for a cube of ice. Kakashi had come to notice the kid would just pop them into his mouth and let them melt, even if he already had a glass of water next to him.

"Weuh…I whn whi 'mm hsho wi kuud…"Naruto trailed off, crunching the ice up and swallowing the last of it. "I went with him so I could see the world. Meet people. Just…escape from everything."

Kakashi nodded, encouraging Naruto to say more. He'd gotten to really know Naruto today. First he knew he had a tattoo (didn't know why or how thought) and he knew he beat up the Gaara kid, and he now knew he traveled the world with a famous porn author. _What kind of parents did he have!?_

Naruto's head sapped to him, as if he were surprised about something. "My parents?" Kakashi shrugged, ashamed he accidently said that out loud. Naruto furrowed his eyebrows and sighed. "I don't have parents. They died a long time ago."

Naruto appreciated that Kakashi didn't apologize. He already knew Kakashi lost his parents young, too, so he knew the man understood. "I…I ki…" He paused, not wanting Kakashi to know the truth. The lazy porn-supporter would never be able to get over it. Naruto shook his head. "I kind of remember them." He said simply, before turning to his bedroom door to leave the man in peace. _I don't deserve to, though._

~.~.~

"Maa, Naruto! Wakey, wakey!" A voice cooed next to his ear. Something soft brushed across his torso, touching his stomach. "Hnnnn" Naruto moaned, feeling like Sasuke. The voice grey softer and warmer as it came closer to his ear. "Maa, you just want to lie here, don't you? It's so warm, soft, and comfortable here…"

Naruto nodded. He didn't want to move from his spot in the bed, it was perfect. Not too hot, not too cold, and he had the perfect amount of light streaming into his room through the window. No school, no work, and absolutely no homework if he worked hard. Weekends were perfect.

…Until a Kakashi roughly shoves you off the bed, steals your blankets and peels open the window blinds. "Well too bad! Time to get up, kid!" The voice shouted loud enough to get complaints from neighbors.

Naruto rubbed his back, where he'd landed on a book and some kind of action figure thingy Kiba had convinced him to buy for a good cause. He'd called it the 'Getting Kiba's current girl impressed at a fancy restaurant with Naruto's money' cause. Naruto was beginning to want to just give the dog lover the toys back in exchange for a 50 and call it even.

"Why?" He whined, eyeing Kakashi through squinted eyes. Kakashi smirked. Or at least, that's what it looked like, since his eye curved upward. Naruto still hadn't seen or gotten any kind of explanation out of Kakashi about his face. What was he hiding? Bad plastic surgery? A weird birthmark? A mustache growing literally on his lips?

Then there was his eye. Naruto could see the bits of a scar peeking out from the edges of the eye patch, making it seem something shark was raked over his eye. Naruto winced at the thought of having something scraped over your eye, realizing there was probably no eye at all.

He pulled on some clothes and his favorite bright orange sneakers and hoodie. Kakashi stared at him. The man was wearing dark grey jeans and a black jacket, making the two seem like polar opposites. Kakashi shrugged and headed for the door so they could board the subway.

"Figures you'd like orange."

"_Excuse_ me?"

~.~.~

Tsunade could hear him coming up the elevator. She could hear him walking down the hall. She could hear them outside the door, and she could definitely hear them sitting on her couch. "SHUT UP!" She growled, making Naruto quiet down and Kakashi send her a thankful look.

Apparently, Kakashi said something about Orange and Naruto blew up. Just like the Sun, Naruto flared up and boiled over. Like the moon, Kakashi calmly sat through the whole thing, wishing he didn't say anything. The thought made Tsunade laugh.

"You two are like the Sun and the Moon!" Kakashi looked at Naruto in his bright fire-colored attire and looked down at his own grey scale attire. He nodded, seeing the sense behind the comment. Accept that in this case, the moon was taller than the short-for-his-age-sun.

"So…" Tsunade began, "What have you two learned?"

Naruto froze. Kakashi grinned and began talking. "I've learned quite a bit about Naruto. He has a job as a waiter at a fancy restaurant. He has quite a bit of friends that are all quite interesting in their own strange ways. He got in a fight with a pretty violent kid named Gaara and actually sent him to the hospital. He's still friends with Gaara. He has a weird tattoo on his stomach, and he traveled the world for three years with Jiraiya."

Tsunade stiffened at the name. "_What?_" She hissed, eyeing Naruto. Kakashi thought she was going to go off about the whole tattoo thing, but she didn't. "I thought it was one year, not three." Naruto laughed and scratched the back of his head.

"Uh, Kakashi's a writer…?" He weakly pointed out. Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "You little brat. You've got a lot to learn about him if that's all you know. And we are going to have a talk about this trip of yours. Actually, no. Kakashi's going to squeeze it out of you." She said, turning to Kakashi, "And I expect you to find out. Not next time we meet, but you will find out one day, or I am going to request more months with you."

Kakashi paled. "What do I need to know by next week?"

"Something. As long as you two have progress, I won't be following through with my threats. If you don't, I will." She said, shamelessly taking a sip form a bottle of beer. "Now get out of my office before I throw something at you."

They scrambled out the door, and began to walk off. Not sensing any other footsteps next to him, he turned to see Naruto staring at his phone with a strange look on his face. "What's that?" He asked, looking over the kid's shoulder.

Naruto jerked the phone away, stuffing it in his pocket. "Nothing. Just an old…friend." Kakashi didn't buy it. Naruto normally had ringtones for all his friends, even people he didn't hang out with, like that guy Neji's girlfriend Tenten. There was no ringtone and…was that even his phone? Naruto was holding a phone different from the one he usually had.

"Where did you get that phone?" He asked, not liking the way Naruto was super quiet. "I've always had it. It's a special phone for a special person."

Kakashi nodded, then watched Naruto nervously mess with the phone in his pocket, expression full of worry. "Who died?" Kakashi asked, making Naruto jump. He glared at the man. "How…stop reading my phone messages!"

Kakashi blinked. "I didn't read anything, I was just referring to how worried you looked…so…someone died?"

Naruto didn't answer and pushed the button to open the elevator. Kakashi tried to go with him but Naruto pushed him out. "Uh, no. Take the stairs if you want to stick with me, you nosy jerk."

"What did I do!?" Kakashi asked, completely confused. "You're being annoying, that's what you did!" Naruto shouted. Suddenly the doors snapped shut before he could stop them, and he shook his head.

"You've got to be kidding me." He shook his head and looked for another elevator. There was only one. "You've _got_ to be kidding me! What is this, the 23rd floor!?" He growled, pushing open the stairwell.

"Damn kid!" He cursed, looking down at the amount of stairs he'd be taking.

~.~.~

"I am on the…22nd floor and I don't have long until he finds me again. _How did he die!?_" Naruto hissed in the phone. "Heh, I…well…I couldn't help myself! You know that! You've got to come help me Naru…they're after me again. Well, they never stopped, but I mean they're actually starting to figure it out! I had no choice!"

"So you _killed_ someone!?"

"To get them off my trail! We need to make them think that I'm somewhere else."

"We?" Naruto asked, pinching the bridge of his nose. "What 'we'? Since when was there a 'we'!? THERE IS NO 'WE' WHEN _YOU_ KILL SOMEONE, DAMN IT!"

The voice on the other side of the phone sighed. "Naru, you were a kid. You could barely defend yourself, let alone me. Now you're all grown up and you understand the workings of the world. Meet Gyuki at the usual place in two days. What happened to the other one again?"

Naruto sighed and leaned against the wall. They were on floor 7 now. "He died." There was no sound for a moment. "Oh. They're both dead?"

"No. Just the important one." The other person probably nodded, then cleared their throat. "Never liked him anyway."

"Well that's nice." Naruto said, rolling his eyes. Nobody liked the guy, but he wasn't sure if it was fine to say it, now that he's, well, dead. "Whatever. Are you helping me or not?"

Naruto sighed and waited for the doors to open, now that he was on ground floor. Spotting silver hair, he groaned. "Ugh, whatever. Fine, I'll be there. What time?"

"0200 am."

"Ok, I have to go."

"Naruto." The voice said loudly, making him jump. He didn't reply or hang up. "Naruto, I can't help you if you don't show up. You're like my little brother. I want to help you, but I can't if you don't go. Please be there."

"I swear I'll be there, ok? Bye."

"Good." The voice replied, and he finally hung up. Kakashi spotted him hiding behind a large potted plant and walked over with a strange expression. He seemed amused and annoyed at the same time. The mask didn't help.

"You do know you're wearing bright orange hiding behind a green plant?"

"I know. It took you long enough to see me." Naruto replied smugly. Kakashi didn't think it was funny. "Whatever. I'm hungry."

"…and?"

Kakashi sighed and pulled Naruto by his horrendously bright jacket out the door back to the subway. "Feed me!" Kakashi begged in high girl voice. Naruto stared at him as if he were insane. "Seriously? You're older than me. Feed yourself!"

"Where do you work?" Kakashi asked, after a thought. "Ever heard of that super nice restaurant Coffee Underground?" Naruto finally replied. Kakashi perked up.

Coffee Underground was, as the name suggested, underground. Starbuck's only stayed in business because they had a drive thru for the average working person, and Coffee Underground did not. After walking down a flight of stairs, you were met with the sound of live jazz performances, the heavenly aroma of good food and amazing coffee, and lots of comfy arm chairs. You could sit in an arm chair near the back and drink coffee while working on your laptop and eating dinner, or you could sit at a table with a blue candle in the center and have a very nice meal.

"That reminds me, I have to go to work tonight." Naruto said, talking to himself. Kakashi grinned. "I know where I'm eating tonight."

Naruto turned to him. "No."

"Yes."

"NO!" Naruto said, getting looks from others as they boarded the subway. Kakashi laughed and rolled his visible eye. "Like you could stop me."

"Of course I can stop you! Just watch!"

~.~.~

"I hate you."

"What did I do?"

"I can't believe you actually came! Then stayed until my shift was over!" Naruto yelled at the man. He'd forgotten about the whole argument on the subway, resulting to Kakashi appearing, and him having to serve the jerk. He thought he'd at least get to see Kakashi's face, but every time he blinked, the man was pulling his mask up and chewing/swallowing. He didn't even see his cheek.

Naruto plopped down on the couch, pulling on his tie. "It was half off, since I knew you!" Kakashi said cheerily. "I know, you cheap bastard."

Kakashi laughed and sat next to Naruto, turning on the TV. "You're getting too comfortable around here." Naruto noted, watching Kakashi go set the channel to one he knew without having to press the 'guide' button.

"If you want me to go, tell me more about yourself."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "You forget that you have to talk, too, or you'll stay here." Kakashi froze. "Shit."

"Haha! You thought you'd make me tell my life story, report the details to the old woman, and then go home and be done! Well, guess what; you have to talk too, or you'll never be free."

"Old woman?" He asked, ignoring everything else.

"Yeah, she's, like, 50." Kakashi raised a visible eyebrow. "Whoa. Plastic surgery?" He asked, seeing it as the only possibility. Naruto shook his head. "She gets drunk, then falls asleep. She's all real. Yes, her boobs are real, too."

"And how do you know _that_?" Kakashi asked, imagining the kid asking her. "Jiraiya's known her since they were kids. He swears he watched them grow."

Kakashi wrinkled his nose in disgust. "That's really…weird."

"And you support his crap." Naruto growled, leaning back in the couch. They sat in silence, watching a funny show about a pawnshop that sold and bought the strangest things.

"My best friends were a girl named Rin and a boy named Obito." Kakashi said, suddenly breaking the silence. "What?" Naruto was completely lost.

Kakashi sighed. "When I was a kid, I hat two best friends. Their names were Rin and Obito. Obito was a complete idiot who was always swearing he'd be on top of the world when he grew up. He probably would have, since he was the kind of person who wouldn't take no for an answer. When he set his mind to something, he did it. He never gave up on anything. His parents died when he was younger, but his rich grandfather took him in. He never let himself get anything without working for it first though.

"Rin was a very good person. She always got good grades, and strived to be the best person she could be. She had the biggest crush on me, and would just sit there staring until I asked her what she was looking at. She wanted to be a doctor…" He trailed off.

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows. "What do you mean 'was'? You keep talking in past tense."

Kakashi cleared his throat. "They're both dead. Obito died in an accident when he was 14 and Rin later on a few years ago when she was 21. They were my best friends." He said in an uncharacteristically sad voice.

Naruto looked uncomfortable. "Your parents died too, when you were younger?" He asked. Kakashi nodded. "Yeah. I lived with my dad until he died, then moved on to live with Obito and his grandfather. We acted like we hated each other, but we were best friends."

"You said your dad died when you were 13 and Obito when he was 14. So…within one year, two people you knew died?"

Kakashi nodded. "It hurt a lot. Rin was all I had. Rin and Obito's grandfather who died when I was 19."

"God, that's horrible." Naruto whispered. He knew how Kakashi must have felt. Many people died when he was growing up, and he still missed them.

They sat in silence, watching commercials on TV. There was a stupid commercial that claimed once your tooth enamel broke down you couldn't get it back. Then they said their toothpaste could build it back. Naruto thought it was a completely ridiculous commercial, and that they either screwed up, or were lying.

He heard a tapping noise and turned to see Kakashi working on his story. "What's your book about anyway?" He asked. He didn't read enough to figure that out.

"It's about a foreigner who can't speak English and moves to America to live with her dad after her mom dies. At her new school, she is told to work on a project with a guy who supposedly can't speak. It's basically one of those sappy love stories that are in today with teenage girls. I'm having fun writing it."

Naruto nodded, allowing the silence to come back. Bored with the TV, he began texting Gaara.

_What's up panda boy?_

_Please don't call me that._ Was the reply. Naruto chuckled, and rolled his eyes.

_Yeah right. You know I'll always call you that. Panda or raccoon will forever be your nicknames._

_If anyone else called me that, their whereabouts would be a mystery. _

_I know. _

_You're lucky._

_I know._

_I hate you._

_Love you to~_ Naruto sent, and not getting a reply for a while. He suspected he'd pissed off the red haired insomniac. Finally, he got a reply.

_Temari says you've got guts._

_Tell her I say thanks._

_No._

_Well, ok then._

_Why are you texting me again? What was the purpose of this conversation?_ Naruto momentarily wondered if he should tell him about the call…then decided against it. He'd tell him not to go. _Have you seen Sai lately? I mean, it's annoying how he's constantly calling me 'dickless' but I have to admit, I miss the asshole._

_He's been visiting his home or something._

_Hmmmm…_

_I have to go._

_Well fine then. Abandon me._ Naruto pouted. They'd been talking for only about five minutes.

_I have to study. Goodbye._ Gaara insisted. Naruto said bye and turned to Kakashi to bug him. "Hey, can you…" He trailed off, realizing he was asleep. "Lazy." He whispered.

Giving into curiosity, he reached over and brushed his fingers against Kakashi's cheek. He hooked his fingers around the mask, slowly pulling down. Kakashi didn't move. His breathing didn't even hitch. Naruto bit his bottom lip and continued, getting sight of Kakashi's cheek. The mask passed his nose, leaving his mouth and chin.

Suddenly, a hand gripped his own. "No touching my mask, please." Kakashi said in a quiet voice. "Why?" Naruto asked as Kakashi pushed the mask back over his nose.

"I don't want you to see my face, if that's ok with you."

"But why?" Naruto asked, crossing his arms. "Are you, like, ugly or something?"

Kakashi's shoulders shook with laughter. "I'm not the judge of that, but no, my thoughts on my face are not why. I just…wear it. Maybe you'll know one day."

Naruto eyed the man in front of him, then shook his head. "Whatever. It's not my problem." He sighed and stood up, heading to the bathroom. "I'm gonna take a shower, then go to bed. Please don't wake me up, ok?"

Kakashi shrugged in reply, flipping through cannels again. "Maa, Naruto you're such a heavy sleeper I might have to push you over to wake you up."

"Well don't." Naruto snapped back, making the man flinch. Naruto closed the door sharply, making Kakashi ask himself a question he'd been asking quite a bit lately. _What did I do?_

~.~.~

There is it! The newest chapter. If you want to know why it took so long for me to update, read the author's note. Comments and Reviews are welcomed :)


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Ok, another chapter! You get to know a bit more about Naruto's problems in this one. I took a leap here…so stick with me, lol. Hope you like it!

~.~.~

"I swear to God, if you don't tell us something I'll ignore you until you get married!" Ino growled. Naruto sighed and flipped through the menu. Everyone had gone out to eat, and he'd been trying very hard to hide Kakashi from them.

It has been a month and a half since he met Kakashi. The man had been living his in home for a full month and one week. He wanted to kick him out, but he knew Tsunade would kick his ass if he did.

"I'm not hiding anything." He replied for the umpteenth time. Kiba took the chance to smile one of his knowing smiles, and loop his arm around Hinata's waist. "Naruto, you are a very easy person to read. I wish you would just tell us so we don't find out on our own and kill you."

Shikamaru broke away from his position looking at the clouds through the window to eye Naruto carefully. "You're doing that thing you always do when you lie." That got Naruto's attention.

"What thing?" He asked, almost feeling offended. "You're tracing your scars." He replied, leaning his head against the window again. Sure enough, Naruto's hand was feeling at the whisker-like marking adorning his left cheek. He had them on his right cheek too, but he was left handed.

"Whatever." He growled, not happy it was so obvious when he lied. He must not do it every single time though, since they'd never bugged him so much when he lied about anything else.

Hinata gave him a small smile. "You're very funny, Naruto. You don't have to tell us about her if you don't want to."

Naruto groaned and rolled his eyes. Neji narrowed his eyes. "Why are you being so difficult? We are your friends, so there is no reason you should be acting this way…unless she is sitting at this table?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at the girls. "Or someone we know but you are worried to speak of?" He asked, looking around at people for their reactions.

Everyone looked around, looking for some kind of indication. "No. There is no person. I would never date you guys anyway. You're all my friends, not love interests." Naruto said, shaking his head at the thought.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "You liked me when we were kids." She pointed out. Naruto laughed. "Uh, keyword 'kids'. I thought your hair was really exotic, and your attitude cool. Most girls giggled and batted their eyelashes while you punched people who messed with you and studied hard, even when the subject was easy. You were different, and I thought thinking that meant I liked you. Trust me, I don't and probably never really truly liked you like that. You're like a sister to me."

Everyone went silent at the confession. "Way to let a girl down Naruto, geese." Sakura finally said, looking annoyed. "It's ok though. You know you're like my brother." She added after a thought.

He smiled and nodded. "So, there's no person. You guys should stop bugging me about it."

They slowly nodded, the conversation being cut off by the waitress handing them their food. After ordering, they switched topics to an annoying teacher Chouji and Shino had.

"He doesn't even let me eat during class. None of the other teachers had a problem with it! Not even in high school!" Chouji complained, munching on his lunch. Shino nodded, his sunglasses catching the sun light. "None of the teachers have yet to complain about my bugs. They wince, but don't complain. This man points them out and calls them disgusting. He even crushed one with a text book, then threw it away."

They were mainly appalled with the idea he actually brought bugs to the class, but felt bad since their friend really cared about his bugs. "That's…I'm sorry, Shino. That's got to hurt."

Shino proceeded to tell them the bug's scientific name and the unique qualities it had…including the juicy details of what it looked like it after being splattered on the ground. Even Chouji slowed the pace he ate his lunch. The waitress saved them by asking them if everything was going alright. After she left, Kiba changed the subject.

"You know, just the other day me and Hinata-" Kiba began, only to have Neji's hand shoved in his face. "I don't want to head about you and my cousin's sexual experiences."

Hinata's face turned redder than Gaara's hair, and Kiba growled. "Are you kidding me? That is _not_ what I was going to say, you perverted freak."

"It is what you did last time a sentence that started with 'Just the other day me and Hinata' came out of your mouth." Neji snapped back.

The argument continued until the waitress came back and handed them the bill. After paying, they all split up, heading to their apartments/dorms to study. Naruto yawned and headed back to his place, wanting to take a nap. He walked up the three flights of stairs to his apartment, then suddenly the world flipped and he was on ground.

"Owww…" He groaned, rubbing his head in pain. He looked down at the ground to see Kakashi laying underneath him, groaning in pain. "God, Naruto. Did you really have to land on me like that?"

Naruto glared. "God, Kakashi. Did you really have to trip me like that?" He snapped back. Kakashi muttered something about a locked door, and Naruto dropped the keys on his forehead as a response. "You know, you're like a pillow."

"Get off of me!" Kakashi yelled, trying to shove the younger boy off. Laughing, Naruto grabbed the keys and unlocked the door, letting the man in. Kakashi immediently ran twords the bathroom, yelling something about drinking three bottles of water.

Naruto walked into his bedroom and set his alarm for 2am. He'd been told to meet Gyuki at the usual place, so he had no choice. Pulling on a black hoodie and dark jeans, he pulled the covers over his head. _Got to get some sleep so I can stay awake while I talk to him, _He thought, closing his eyes.

~.~.~

Kakashi, once again, jumped and fell out of the couch, resulting to smacking his head on the coffee table next to him. The loud sound of an alarm clock was screeching in Naruto's room, followed by a loud thumping sound. Suddenly, it stopped and Naruto was barreling out of his room.

"What the hell are you doing?" He hissed groggily, watching Naruto pull on sneakers. He found the all black attire strange on the blonde. Not bad looking, but unusual. Naruto looked at him, surprised he was awake.

"I have to go do something." He replied, rushing out the door. Kakashi shook his head and furrowed his eyebrows.

He jumped off the couch and followed the younger man. "Hey, uh…what?"

Naruto stopped half way down the stairs and looked back up to him. "Nothing. Go back to sleep, I'll be back."

"Uh, no."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"I'm not comfortable with you going God-knows-where at two in the morning." He said, feeling like an idiot. He was only seven years older than him, and he was treating him like a kid.

Sure enough, that was exactly what Naruto pointed out. "What are you, my father?" Then his look softened, and he shook his head. "No, sorry. That was rude. But seriously. How are you going to stop me?"

Kakashi looked at the blonde. _Kid probably doesn't realize half the crap he could get himself into going out at this time of day…_

"I'll tell Tsunade." _Why the hell did I say that!?_

Naruto's eyes widened, and Kakashi mentally shrugged, trying to keep his poker face. _Looks like it worked. _

Naruto looked at the man in front of him. He wasn't sure if Kakashi was bluffing or not, but he didn't want to risk it. Tsunade would literally skin him if she knew. He sighed. "Ok. Put on some normal clothes, I have to go and you're coming with me."

Kakashi sent him a blank look. "Huh?" He finally asked. "I have to go and if you don't want me to, that's too bad. So you'll just have to come with me."

Kakashi stood still for a moment, then dashed back into the apartment. A few minutes later, he came stumbling out, pulling on a pair of high tops. "Ok, he's still here. Good." He said to himself, jogging down the stairs.

"Ok, listen up." Naruto said, tugging on his jacket, pulling him closer as they walked out the building doors. "Stick with me. Don't stop to look at anything, don't stray away. Just stay next to me."

Kakashi nodded slowly, wondering why there were rules. _What…what is he up to…?_

Naruto swiftly pulled him down an alley that lead to a confusing maze of more alleys and streets. "No questions. Please, don't ask any questions until we are back in my apartment." Kakashi pulled his coat tighter, wondering how Naruto was able to navigate through the small, dark alleyways.

"And the last thing….If I tell you to do something, it's because you need to do it, not because I like being mean. So if I say do something, do it."

"Where are we going that I need to have rules?" Naruto glared up at him. "No questions!" Kakashi rolled his eyes, but shut up anyway.

They continued walking and the place grew lighter. People hung strings of lights and little lanterns, illuminating different alleys and streets in different colors. Naruto turned to a street decked out in blue lights and Kakashi raised his eyebrows. The more they walked, the more he could hear the heavy beat of a song.

Suddenly, Naruto pushed open a door to the left and he knew they were heading twords the music. _A club? _Kakashi wondered, following close behind Naruto. A man sat at a table and nodded to Naruto, as if he recognized him. Kakashi noted the man seemed to be selling a substance that didn't look legal.

The further they went down the street, the more uncomfortable Kakashi grew. There were people sitting on the ground smoking, and people drinking on the top of a beat up car. A few people crowded around a window that he could see allowed people to get a sneak preview of a strip club.

A girl heaved on the side of the road, sporting a dress that was more like a tight shirt she stretched halfway over her ass. The man next to her rubbed her back and winked at Kakashi. _What the hell is Naruto doing here?_

Finally at the place where the music was coming from, Kakashi resisted the urge to cover his ears. It was very, very loud. He could barely see anything, and grabbed onto the back of Naruto's hoodie, since the blonde seemed to be perfectly able to navigate through the crowd.

The club was extremely dark with the dim purple lights pulsing with the heavy beat of a rap song Kakashi had never heard. Perhaps because he didn't listen to rap? Shoving the thoughts out of his head, he noticed Naruto was heading to a room with a red rope around the entrance. A large man with muscles the size of both their heads put together was guarding it. Kakashi felt the blood drain out of his face.

"Ok, how are you going to get past that guy!?" He yelled into Naruto's ear. Naruto said something back, but he couldn't hear. Instead of trying to find another way, he walked right up to the guy and…into the room?

The man's large hand gripped Kakashi's shoulder and he yelled for Naruto.

"Oh, sorry. You've got to stay here, ok? Shaq here isn't going to eat you."

Shaq laughed and spoke in a very deep voice. "If he doesn't bug me, that is." Naruto laughed as if it were some kind of joke between them, and Kakashi nervously joined in. "Ahahaha, yeah. Funny. Uh, so I just sit here? And wait for you to come back?"

Naruto nodded. "Just sit there. I'll be back." And he turned away, walking out of sight. Kakashi sighed. "Need a drink?" Shaq's deep voice rumbled behind him. He nodded. "Please."

Shaq handed him a beer and motioned for him to sit on a stool next to him. "What's he doing in there?" He asked, trying not to sound worried. Pshh, he didn't even need to try. He wasn't worried. Just didn't want to get blamed for whatever crap the kid got in while he stayed with him. Not. Worried. At. All.

"I am not positive I know the answer to your question Mr. Medical mask."

_…Is he drunk?_ Kakashi thought, staring at the man. "Well, that's quite a roundabout way of saying 'no'. How long will he be in there?"

Shaq shrugged. "Depends on what he's here for this time." Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow. "So he's been here before?"

"Not many blonde haired blue eyed boys with scars on their face…" Shaq said in a tone that suggested it was an unfinished sentence. Kakashi waited for him to say something else, and sighed when he didn't. "Hello?" he asked, and Shaq turned to him. "What?"

…It would be a long night.

~.~.~

Naruto raised his eyebrows. He hadn't seen Gyuki in a long time, but was not expecting what he saw. As usual, the man was wearing his strange white-lensed glasses (he had no idea how he was able to see out of them) and had the usual headband wrapped around his head, keeping his pale blonde cornrows in place. He wore a t-shirt with maroon octopus tentacles curling around his ribs.

"I see you've got yourself a piercing." He commented, gesturing to a large nose ring the man had, reminding Naruto of a bull. Gyuki nodded, lightly flicking the ring with his finger. "Yeah, I think it fits me."

Naruto had to admit, Gyuki was probably one of the few people he knew who could pull it off. He wouldn't admit it to the arrogant man, though. The last thing he needed was Gyuki getting a swelled head and screwing something up.

"So…not to be rude or anything, but my roommate insisted on coming so I have to hurry." He awkwardly said with what he hoped was an apologetic look on his face. Gyuki nodded. "Yeah, I get it. You've got a life to live and all that. In fact, if your other half wasn't wasting time in China you wouldn't be here." Naruto's eyes widened at the comment.

"He's in _China_!?" Gyuki nodded. "UGH! I don't have international calling on my phone! I'm going to get a huge bill!" He yelled, moving to stand up. Gyuki put a hand out. "Calm down, you can get revenge some other time. Right now, we need to talk."

Naruto grumbled, but complied. Gyuki was nearly as large as Shaq outside. All Gyuki would have to do was sit on him and he'd probably be knocked out. "So who did he kill?"

"Well, you know we can't let ourselves be found. The guy was a photographer in China for work who decided to take on a few extra jobs while there. His name was Richard Moman. He took on a job for _them _and…well, I think you can guess how that went. He thought it'd be easy. He took a few pictures, but he was apparently not very good at hiding. _He _found him shifting through his stiff and taking photos and, and…well, you know. Killed him."

Naruto sighed. "Does anyone know?"

Gyuki shook his head. "He got lucky this time. Richard was nobody. An only child, not close to his family. His parents are dead and he's kept to himself. Nobody even knows he's dead yet."

"How was he killed? And what do you mean nobody knows? Wouldn't the police be investigating a murder?"

Gyuki grimaced. "_He_ killed him by strangling him."

"Well that's surprisingly not violent."

"With barbed wire."

"…" Naruto shook his head. Why he stuck with the guy, he didn't know. _What the hell is wrong with him!? God, I wish they were all horrible people so I wouldn't feel guilty about ditching them…then again, that would come to bite me in the ass, wouldn't it? Since I'm one of them, too._ He thought grimily.

"The police are not investigating, though so he's fine." Gyuki said, catching Naruto's attention. "What do you mean they're not investigating? Have they not found the body?"

Gyuki pursed his lips. "Uh, no."

"Why the hell not!? I don't want our friend to get caught, but normally when someone dies, the police hear about it! I mean, how long has this Richard been dead!?"

Gyuki scratched the back of his head. "A while now." He admitted. Naruto narrowed his eyes. "What are you not telling me?"

"Well, China's a big place. A very big, very crowded place." He said, not really making any sense. "Where are you getting with this?" Naruto asked.

"He doesn't really have anywhere to hide Richard so…" He trailed off, sending Naruto a knowing look. Naruto burst out laughing. "So what? You want me to help hide Richard's dead body!?"

~.~.~

"WHAT THE FUCK!?"

Naruto was staring at the dead body of a young man he assumed must be Richard Moman. "How and why on earth is he _here!?_" He hissed, shoving the larger man. Gyuki didn't budge, but he shrugged. "He sent Richard to us. He wants us to 'dispose of the body' as he put it."

"Hell no!" Naruto protested. Gyuki ignored him and zipped up the body bag Richard had been stored in. "How the hell did you get him here in the first place!?"

"Bribery." He replied as if it was normal. Naruto turned to the black bag on the floor next to them. "Do you want him to be found? Do you want to police getting tangled up in this mess?" Gyuki asked.

Naruto hesitantly shook his head. The police would just screw up all the work they'd done. And he certainly didn't want _him_ to get found again. That would lead to getting found himself. Again.

"Then pick and end, and lift."

Naruto looked down at the body and winced. He didn't see what it looked like because of the dim lights, but the smell was strong, and he could see darker splotched on the bag he assumed must have been blood. He rolled up his sleeves and grabbed what seemed to be the feet. "This goes against everything I stand for." He grumbled, while they shuffled out the back door to a truck Gyuki had waiting.

"Ok, put him in the back and I'll drive."

Naruto grudgingly obliged.

They drove for what felt like forever, but eventually reached a building at the outskirts of the city. "Why did I have to come if all we had to do was transport the body to another building?"

Gyuki frowned. "You're the only person they're gonna trust. Since, you know, you're the only person _he_ trusts." Naruto rolled his eyes and grumbled about 'trust'.

The door swung open and his heart nearly stopped. "Orochimaru." He hissed, glaring at the creepy man. His equally creepy assistant came slinking out the doorway, grinning like a snake.

"Naruto! So nice to see you!" Orochimaru said in a tone that he was lying. Naruto glared at him, but didn't reply. He never liked the man. Orochimaru had tried to adopt Sasuke after his parents died, and caused a ton of trouble for everyone. Eventually Sasuke was just emancipated and allowed to live on his own after people realized the unhealthy amount of stress they were putting on Sasuke by trying to get him adopted. They found a distant Uchiha relative and she became his guardian, tossing the snake-like man to the curb.

Naruto had met orochimaru more times than necessary and never liked what he saw. But the police have never even suspected him of anything, even though he's done enough things to be in jail for life.

"I see you haven't keeled over yet." He growled. Orochimaru just smirked. "Not all things work in your favor Naru."

Naruto ignored how creepy it was to hear the nickname come out of the man's mouth and heaved the body out of the truck. Orochimaru smiled and motioned for Kabuto to help him bring it inside. "You don't want to be paid or something?" Naruto asked suspiciously, making the man laugh.

"This is payment." He stated, closing the door behind him. Naruto shivered. "I feel like a horrible person."

Gyuki shrugged and got back in the car. "It's fine. You're helping your friends!"

Naruto stared at the man with his mouth agape. "The shit I do for friends!" He tried to joke. Gyuki shook his head. "You know it's not just for them. If one of us are found, they'll find clues to the rest of us. We have to help each other…"He continued talking but Naruto blocked him out. He'd heard the 'we've stuck with each other for six years now, we are all great friends and need to help each other stay safe' speech millions of times. He just wished he had a normal life. He wished he wasn't covered in dead body scent at two in the morning, driving away from delivering the body of poor Richard Moman to a sick, twisted creep who'd play Frankenstein with it.

He wished he was in bed, like most people his age at this time of night. Or at least at a club with his friends or something. And not the friends who are stuck in the same boat as him. The other friends. The ones who would probably hate him when they learned all the secrets he'd been keeping.

As they drove closer to their destination, he tried to forget the previous events. "It was cool to see you again Gyuki." He whispered, giving the large man a hug once they exited the club. "Wait."

Naruto turned to him. Gyuki leaned against the car and pursed his lips. "Well, I know you don't like this. None of us do. But…none of us can help the fact we somehow got involved in this mess. None of us intentionally got involved, but we are. So I'm sorry. I know you're the youngest out of all of us, so you've pretty much spent your childhood worrying about things kids shouldn't worry about."

Before Naruto could say anything, he quickly continued speaking. "I know you're not a kid now, but it doesn't change the fact you mean a lot to me. You mean a lot to all of us. We all mean a lot to each other. We're practically siblings."

He took Naruto's hand and pulled a sharpie out of his car. He began writing a number and instructions in German. "I'm going back to Germany. I only came here to fix this little issue. If you need to talk, or if you need something, call this number. You can call anyone, but I don't know if they've changed their numbers again. So…just don't keep everything bottled up. That's not good for you." He stuck the sharpie back in the car and nodded his head.

"You're like my little brother. It's crazy how much you've grown." He whispered almost to himself. Naruto smiled. "Thanks Gyuki."

Gyuki held his hand out for a fist pump and Naruto laughed, lightly tapping his knuckles against the man's fist. "I'll have to go visit you. Been a while since I've been to Germany."

Gyuki smirked and got back in the car. "I'm leaving now, I've got to make the flight. Give Shaq this," He said, handing Naruto a folded up piece of paper, "And then go home. Make sure you give it to him. Bye! You better visit me!" He yelled, driving off again.

Naruto briefly wondered if the car was a rental. Deciding not to dwell on the thought, he re-entered the club, trekking through the room Shaq was guarding. Opening the door, Shaq nodded as he handed him the paper. He put a hand out, keeping Naruto from leaving the room until he finished it. He nodded, and lifted the red rope for his to pass through.

"Naruto!" Kakashi said, jumping off a stool. He had an unopened beer in his hands. "…yes?"

"It's 5:23 in the morning. We walked for an hour, then you just left me here for two hours!"

Naruto winced. He didn't think he'd been gone that long. "Sorry, it took a while." Kakashi narrowed his eyes and followed Naruto out of the club. "What do you mean 'it took a while'? What exactly 'took a while'?"

Naruto bit his bottom lip. "Personal stuff." He finally replied. Kakashi stared at him, getting annoyed. "Ok. I came here to make sure you didn't get mugged or something, and ended up sitting next to a giant with muscles the size of my face, because you had _personal stuff_ to do in a mysterious room. Tell me, Naruto. Is this personal stuff anything Tsunade wouldn't do?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow. _Hmmm…would she assist a friend in hiding a dead body? … _"Yeah." He lied. Kakashi clicked his tongue and grabbed Naruto's hand. "Naruto look me in the eyes and say that again."

_Technically it's 'eye' not 'eyes'_. He thought to himself, turning to stare in Kakashi's blue-grey eye. "Well?" He asked, and Naruto sighed. "I don't know, ok? I'm not doing anything illeg-" He cut himself off. He could keep a secret, and he could lie, but he couldn't lie to someone he considered a friend's face like that.

"I'm helping people, ok? I'm helping people who I really care about."

Kakashi looked carefully at Naruto's expression, and dropped his hand. "Sorry, it's just…this place doesn't look safe." He said quietly, slightly gesturing to a fight going on further down the street.

Naruto shrugged and continued walking. "It's fine. I grew up here. They won't even dare to touch me." He growled, sending a glare to a group of people standing to the side of the street, smoking.

Kakashi blinked in surprise, but before he could say anything, Naruto cut him off. "I'll answer questions later. For now, let's hurry back."

He followed the blonde down streets he didn't even remember going down on the way here. _He grew up here? No way. I can't imagine a kid living here. Nobody would let a kid live here. _He watched how Naruto navigated through the confusing streets, not even really looking where he was going. _Oh my God. He actually grew up here. Maybe he's got more on his plate than I thought._

~.~.~

"So you're not going to answer my questions?" Kakashi called after Naruto as he rushed to dry off his hair. The second they got home, he scrubbed his body red raw until the smell was gone. Kakashi called questions to him through the bathroom door, but he didn't have an answer. Finally, he wrapped a towel around himself and swung open the door.

"You know what? You're a good person. You're, like, three steps away from becoming one of my many acquaintances. So I'm going to tell you something; stop asking questions. Questions are not good. There are many guys like Shaq out there, and I know, like, five of them. I'm not trying to be mean, I'm trying to keep you from getting hurt."

He shoved past Kakashi, who didn't know what to say. He adjusted his mask to hide the slight blush from seeing Naruto in that state. "Safe from what?" He called to the boy from behind his closed bedroom door.

Naruto swung open the door, holding his back pack and pulling on some shoes. "I have to go to school." He said, rushing out the door. He heard Kakashi sigh just as he shut the door and ran out the apartment complex.

Rushing to make it to class on time, he dashed through the subway and prayed he got there on time. When he reached his stop, he rushed into class and took his seat just as the professor walked in.

He struggled to stay awake and take his notes. Exhausted, he glared at the comment Sasuke whispered to him about his cheeks when he yawned. Rubbing his cheeks, he continued taking notes…so tired…

"Oi, dobe. Class is over, you know." Sasuke said, violently shaking Naruto's shoulders. Naruto snapped up, looking for the source of the voice. "Sa'ske?" He mumbled sleepily. Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Get. Up. Class is over."

Naruto jumped up and looked around. People were leaving, giving him funny looks. "You're surprisingly a quiet sleeper." Naruto grinned at the rare compliment form the Uchiha. "Until you nearly fell out of the desk."

"What!?" He yelled, getting more funny looks and a few chuckles. "Oh, go away." He snapped to the other students. "Thanks for waking me up." He said to Sasuke, collecting his things to head to Sasuke's dorm. After the one class they had together, they would always wait at Sasuke's dorm room for the next class they had, which was two hours later.

"No need to thank me." Sasuke replied in an unusually amused voice. Naruto mentally noted to check his phone.

After gathering his things, Naruto followed Sasuke back to his dorm, where they found Neji, Ino, Sakura, and Hinata waiting for them. "Naruto!" Sakura yelled at the sight of him. He shrunk back, not sure why she looked angry.

"So…" She growled, her green eyes gleaming with anger, "You think my chest is too small, huh? Is that what you go telling people!?"

He blinked. "What?"

"You know what you dumbass!" She shouted, making Sasuke crack and evil looking half smile thing. He glared. "YOU! This is what you did while I was asleep!" He shouted, pointing at Sasuke. Sasuke's smile turned into a smirk.

"You didn't think I would just sit there, did you?"

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows. "Huh?"

Naruto patted her on the head. "Sasuke's an ass, that's all you need to know."

"Dobe!"

"Don't talk to me teme!" He replied playfully. He wasn't really mad, but it was funny to watch Sasuke contemplate whether or not to apologize. You could almost see the gears turning in his head.

Naruto took a seat on the couch next to Neji, making the long haired boy scoot closer to the other end. Naruto lightly tugged on the boy's long hair, wondering how he managed to look so manly with it.

Noticing Neji's furious glare, Naruto dropped the hair and shrugged, turning to steal Sasuke's laptop.

"Ooooh, what websites has Sasuke been visiting?"

With a loud thump and a growl, Sasuke lunged off the bed to Naruto, snapping the computer shut on his fingers. "OUCH!" He screamed in a high pitched voice that he would have been embarrassed of if he weren't too busy checking for broken fingers.

"TEME!" He yelled loudly, making everyone flinch. Sakura rushed over to him, checking his hands. She was trying to become a doctor, so if you had a paper cut she would inspect and 'properly care for the laceration' as she would put it.

"Sasuke…why would you do that?" She hissed, glaring at the Uchiha. Naruto smirked. "Has Sasuke been doing naughty things on the internet?" Sasuke glared. "No. I had an essay I'm working on and I know you were probably going to mess with it, like last time." He growled.

Naruto shrugged. "I'm bored."

"No need to get your fingers broken for entertainment, Naruto." Ino laughed. Hinata chuckled, but not at the joke. She was laughing at something on her phone. Neji rolled her eyes. "What did the mutt say this time that was so funny." She quickly looked from her phone, blushing.

"Nothing Neji." She whispered, moving to sit on the floor, further away from him. Suddenly, Sasuke sighed, sounding annoyed. "Naruto, stop messing with me."

"What?" He asked, and everyone looked up. He turned to look at Sasuke, who was glaring at Naruto from his position on the bed. "Who'd you get to send me this text?" He asked, clearly annoyed.

"What…what text?" Naruto asked carefully, not liking the tone in Sasuke's voice. Sasuke rolled his eyes and held up his phone to let him see. He scooted closer and his blood cold.

_Tell the blonde he looks good in black._

"What the hell?" Ino said. "That's creepy. Naruto, you have some strange pranks." She joked, smiling. Naruto snatched the phone out of Sasuke's hand. "Hold on." He said when he tried to take it back.

_Who is this?_

_You know exactly who this is._

_What do you want?_

_Blondie? Oh, this is too good._

_What do you want?!_ Naruto typed angrily. _And who is this!?_ He added.

It was a while before he got a reply. The girls were teasing Hinata about some text Kiba sent her while Neji called it ridiculous. Sasuke was on his computer, probably working on the essay he feared Naruto would sabotage.

_I guess you really don't know. Too bad. You'll figure it out._

Naruto was ready to send an angry reply when they sent something again._ Hmmm…what do I want? I don't really know. You tell me. _

Naruto pursed his lips in frustration. He looked out the window. There was nobody he recognized, and certainly no dorms facing him, but he couldn't get rid of the feeling he was being watched. Then he froze. He was being watched. This morning, they were watching him.

_You saw me last night!?_ He sent frantically, hoping it wasn't true.

_Orochimaru's a nice person isn't he?_

He fisted his hand, then typed a reply. _Tell me your name. Are you one of them, or are you working for them?_

_ Got to go, Naruto._ The person sent. He felt chills go down his back when they said his name. _What does this mean?_ He wondered, trying not to panic. _They've found me. They know where I am. They saw me last night. Me and Gyuki. They probably now know Gyuki's in Germany. They texted me through Sasuke's phone…so they know I'm friends with Sasuke. They're probably working on locating the others…God, I am so dead. I have to…I have to do something! _

He quickly deleted the texts from Sasuke's phone and tossed it back to the Uchiha. _I have to go. Now. I have to leave this second and find the others. _He looked at his friends messing around. Ino, Sakura, and Hinata were giggling about something on Ino's lap top and Neji had moved to Sasuke to help him with the essay. _What do I tell them? _He asked himself, looking at his friends. _God, forget excuses. I'll think of something later. _

"Naruto, you look sick." Ino said, startling him.

_I am sick. _He thought grimily, glancing at Ino. "No, I'm fine. You know what, I just remembered something I have to do. I'll…I'll see you guys some other day, ok? I have to go."

The girls shrugged and said bye, and Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Hn." He finally replied. Naruto picked up his bag and closed the door, waving bye. Neji waved back, giving him a calculating glance. _God, maybe I really do suck at lying_. He thought, realizing he was tracing his scars again. _I'm a horrible friend._ He thought, biting his bottom lip.

~.~.~

Kakashi was having a pretty great day. He'd gotten pretty far in his book, pleasing his editor, and had enough time to go get some coffee. He'd even found out the newest book in a series he was following (not Icha Icha) had come out early. Carrying the book and his coffee, he took out the brand new key to Naruto's apartment he'd gotten made today, courtesy of Naruto, and unlocked the door.

His mouth dropped open. There was shit _everywhere._

He stared wide eyed at the mess. The couch was shoved over, the cushions taken out and on the floor. The coffee table was next to the window, and there were papers all over the floor. Drawers and kitchen cabinets were open, completely empty. All the bowls, plates and cups were placed on the kitchen floor and counters. "Oh my…God." He whispered to himself.

He put his things down and searched for his things. After nearly slicing his foot open with a knife that was on the ground, he found his laptop. He opened it, surprised to see a paper slide out. He picked up the folded paper, and opened it.

_Hey Kakashi. Sorry for the mess. I was looking for something I hid, but I forgot where I hid it so…you know. I kind of tore the place apart, since I was in a hurry. I'll be staying at a friend's place for a few days; they've had a family emergency and needed my help. You can call me, I'll just not be able to make the meeting with Tsunade, ok? I don't know when I'll be back, but I won't be gone an hour more than two weeks. I'll be back eventually, ok? Don't worry about me. See you soon!_

_ Naruto._

_ P.S. It would be nice if you cleaned the place for me. You don't have to…but it would be nice…_

"You've got to be fucking kidding me." He growled, looking around the apartment for signs of a hiding blonde. When he didn't find him, he whipped out his phone and dialed his number. No answer. He sighed and tried to stay calm. "He's so dead." He muttered under his breath, rolling up his sleeves to clean the mess.

~.~.~

Naruto sighed in relief. How he was able to book a last minute ticket to China was beyond him, but he did it after a few minutes of annoying high pitched begging and pleading. He felt bad for leaving Kakashi the apartment in a mess, abandoning his friends, and not answering any calls, but a guy's got to go what a guy's got to do.

He looked out the window as the plane began to move. He didn't mind sitting between a very large person with a bladder the size of a peanut and a stressed mother trying to make her crying baby shut up. Nope. It was totally worth it. Even if he was sitting all the way in the back right next to the restroom, where he suspected the mysterious bad smells were coming from.

The plane took off and he adjusted his legs. It would be a long flight to China. He smirked. _Kurama's gonna have a heart attack._

~.~.~

**A/N:** That's right! Now you know who 'he' is. And I think you have a good idea of who 'they' are. Lol, even I'm confusing myself. I'm trying, I swear! Hope you liked it. Comments and Reviews are welcome! :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**A/N:** I'M SO SORRY! Sorry I haven't updated in a while! My grandfather broke his hip, my mom had a ton of doctor's appointments a 5 hour drive away (I had to go with her) and I've been having the worst kind of computer trouble! Sorry I kept you waiting! Now that I'm done with the apology, I got a question in the comments:

**'When will we hear about Kakashi's past?' **Well, we will get there :) I plan on the story being _at least_ 20 chapters. You can't learn everything in the beginning, lol! So you'll probably hear about is within the next few chapters. Hope you like it!

~.~.~

Uzumaki Naruto is officially lost.

"UGH!" He yelled, making people scoot away from him on the subway train. The subway train he had to use lots of begging to board after the police began questioning him. _Why didn't I think this through!?_ He thought in frustration. It took a few minutes of being on the plane to remember China was a huge country with billions of people. What was he supposed to do? Ask people if they'd seen a red haired foreigner? Yeah right! There were probably hundreds of red haired foreigners in China, not to count the fact Kurama could have dyed his hair.

He took out his phone and bit his bottom lip. _They're probably tracking the phone or something. _He thought, tucking the phone back in his pocket. The train began to slow to a stop, and he decided to get off and simply roam the streets.

It wasn't that he couldn't speak Chinese. No, he spoke enough of many languages to get around just about anywhere. But he could not read the characters at all, and had absolutely no idea where he was. He looked out in front of him, hoping he would recognize something. Nope. Nothing looked familiar. Was Shanghai too big to walk in circles?

He squeezed through the crowds to shuffle across the street. He found it hard to breathe with so many people around him. People walking in all directions, squeezing to get past each other and sending curious looks in his way. He looked up and saw a huge building, larger than anything he'd ever seen before. Seemingly made entirely of glass, it practically glowed underneath the sun on one side, and perfectly reflected the sky on the other.

Unsure of what one was to do when lost in China, he hurried further up the street and leaned against the building across from the glass tower. He watched the people walk by, blurring into a sea of black, white, and grey. No bright colors. The occasional outgoing person walked by with pastel colored business clothes, but it seemed dull to him.

_Well, I am where all the business men are. _He thought, watching the packed streets fly by him. He noticed a bus heading his way and furrowed his eyebrows. Lots of people began to board the bus while he weighed his options. _Board the bus to an unknown destination…or sit here until I get mugged?_

He boarded the bus.

People looked at him strangely as he stole a seat between an old woman and an angry looking business man after paying the driver. The man glared at him and scooted away from him as if he had some kind of sickness. Naruto glared back, and turned to the woman, who had somehow fallen asleep. As the bus began to move, he closed his eyes and began to sleep as well.

~.~.~

Kakashi didn't know what to do. He'd called Naruto and got no answers, looked for clues as to where the boy had gone, and even searched through Naruto's computer history. Nothing. He had absolutely no idea where he'd gone, and the longer he didn't know, the more anxious he got.

So, two days after he found the apartment in a mess, he decided it was time to take drastic measures. He was sitting in the library where Naruto's college's library. He didn't know how to approach his worried looking friends huddled over the table across from him, but he knew he had to. He was becoming worried. Why the thought he might never see Naruto again made his stomach churn was beyond him.

He finally sighed and put down the large encyclopedia he'd been using to hide the fact he was watching the pink haired girl. _What was her name again? Sasuma? It had something to do with pink…Sakura! Like the flower!_ He nodded, standing to confront them.

They quieted down and stared at him in confusion. Then the one with red tattooed cheeks spoke up. "Uh…what do you want?" Kakashi struggled to remember his name. "Kima? Kaba? Kiba! You're Kiba, right?"

Kiba's eyes widened and he scooted his chair back a bit. "Uh…yeah? How…how do you know that?"

Kakashi smiled, even though they probably couldn't see it. "I'm living with Naruto!"

The way they looked at him made him wince. The scary red head, Gaara, stood up to look Kakashi in the eye. "Where. Is. He." He demanded, making Kakashi back up a bit. "Nice to see you again, Gaara." He whispered. Sakura gasped, looking between the two. "You know each other!? Gaara, you knew Naruto was living with this guy!?"

"I didn't know he had a roommate…" A dark haired one Kakashi couldn't remember the name of. Kakashi couldn't tell if he was the one called Rock Lee or Sa'ske…

"Well, he does. It's me. I'm…his roommate." Kakashi stated awkwardly. He went to college online and never had many friends, so he didn't know what to do in this situation. How on earth was he supposed to ask a missing person's friends he was looking for said missing person?

"Look, I can't find him either. I'm guessing from your reactions you don't know where he is?" He asked, pulling a chair up to their table. A girl with long black hair and lavender eyes grabbed Kiba's hand. "No," She said in a soft voice, "We've been worried. He just…left." She finished with a whisper. Kiba rubbed the back of her hand consolingly while Kakashi shuffled through his pocked. "Here it is!" He said, taking out the paper Naruto had left for him. "This is what he left me."

They read the paper then looked back to him. "Have you tried calling him?" Sakura asked him, eyes sparkling with hope. Kakashi cringed. "Yeah, and he hasn't picked up."

A girl with long blonde hair frowned. "Well, let's try again!" She said, shoving the paper in his face. Kakashi pushed the paper away and noted her name was Ino, as Sakura hissed at her for bothering him. "Ok then. Here." Kakashi said, pulling out his phone again. He put it on speaker and dialed the number.

"So," Kiba said while the phone continued to ring, "You and Naruto are…you are…you know?" He asked, and everyone leaned in. Kakashi blinked at the question. _Hadn't we just established that?_ He wondered, slowly nodding his head. The girls blushed, and Kiba's eyes widened. Gaara shook his head.

"Why didn't he ever tell us?" Kiba whispered, making Kakashi confused. "I don't know…I mean-"

"Have you two slept together?" Ino suddenly asked, making Sakura punch her arm. "Ino! Don't ask that!" She hissed. Kakashi furrowed his eyebrows. _What an unusual question to ask. _"Uh, Yeah, once. He-"

He was cut off by loud squealing from the girls. "I really _don't_ want to hear the details." The dark haired one interrupted, pinching the bridge of his nose. Gaara smirked evilly at Kakashi.

Suddenly, the phone stopped ringing and Naruto's voicemail rang in their ears. "Let's try again." Hinata insisted, and Kakashi complied. They waited in silence as the phone continued to ring, and ring, and ring.

Their breath hitched when the ringing stopped. "Hello?"

~.~.~

Naruto sat on the bed, waiting for his lovely friend to walk through the front door. The apartment was tiny, a bunk bed laying over the shower, sink, and toilet, with a desk off to the right covered in computers and wires. To the left was a tiny kitchen unit with cluttered storage shelves and if front of him was the door he was staring down.

After waking up with nobody in the bus except for the old lady who had somehow ended up resting her head on his lap, he got off the bus and called Gyuki. He didn't care if he was found. The rice fields of China was not where he thought Kurama was.

So after fighting off the old woman and her rice farming friends, he got Kurama's address and forked over the money to a gracious taxi driver who drove him all the way back to Hong Kong.

He blinked, finding it hard to stay mad when he was so bored. His phone rang, but he ignored it. He couldn't answer it until he had a friend to prove his excuse, and he was betting they'd want some proof.

"God, this place is small." He muttered under his breath, looking around. He could touch the walls with his arms extended. _I guess he doesn't want to spend too much money when he won't stay for long._ He thought to himself, beginning to feel claustrophobic.

Suddenly, the door opened, and he leaped off the bunk bed to tackle the man in the doorway. "Waaaaa!" Kurama cried, his head hanging over the edge of the balcony 15 stories in the air. "N-Naruto!" He cried, looking extremely surprised. "What a lovely surprise! What brings you here?" Suddenly, Naruto was pissed again.

"You sent me a _dead body_!" He hissed, fisting Kurama's shirt in his hands. Kurama smiled apologetically. "I needed help! Look around you! Do you see a proper hiding place for a body? It's so tightly packed together here I can't hide my favorite pudding from annoying visitors, let alone a dead body!" He yelled, trying to get up.

Naruto pushed him back down and straddled his waist, pinning him down. "Well guess what? I'm not happy! I helped you, now you're going to help me!"

Kurama narrowed his eyes in suspicion, then nodded. "Fine." He forged out of his mouth, and Naruto got off of him. Kurama stood up, fixing his shirt. "How did you get in my apartment? How did you even find my apartment?" He asked, sitting at the small desk.

Naruto climbed onto the bunk bed, pushing the covers out of the way. "They've found us. They sent me a text through my friend's phone, and knew what I was wearing the night I helped Gyuki get rid of Richard."

He turned to Kurama to see he was sporting a blank look. "Richard. The guy you killed." "Oh!" Naruto rolled his eyes and continued talking. "I know they were probably tracking my phone or something, but I figured you would-"

"Wait, hold on! You asked Gyuki where I'm at, didn't you? And now they probably know where we are?"

Naruto nodded. "They're looking for us again."

"They never stopped." Kurama whispered. "We've got to get everyone back together and end this. We've got to-" Suddenly, the ringing of Naruto's phone cut them off. Naruto scrambled to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Naruto! Thank God!" Kakashi's voice shouted, followed by several other voices and a loud 'shushing' noise.

"Naruto! Where are you!?" Sakura's voice called through the phone. "Sakura? Why do you have Kakashi's phone?" He asked, feeling panicked. _What if Kakashi told them!?_

"He was looking for you so he came to us for help! Where are you!?"

Naruto looked at Kurama and smiled. "China!" He replied, getting a long silence.

"What!?" He winced at the loud response. Suddenly, everyone was asking questions. "Guys! Shut up!" He yelled, getting a look from Kurama.

"Naruto, seriously, where are you?" Ino's voice asked. Naruto sighed. "Hold on." He said, jumping off the bunk bed and opening the door. He took out his phone and took several pictures of himself standing with the Hong Kong city background. Then he took some of the street signs and one of a billboard, and sent them all to Sakura's phone.

"I sent proof to Sakura's phone. I'm in Hong Kong!" He insisted, re-entering the apartment. "Oh my God." He heard Hinata say. Kiba yelled something about girls and Sasuke proceeded to call him a 'dobe'. "You said a friend had a family emergency!" Kakashi hissed accusingly.

"Yeah! Here he is." Naruto pressed the phone against his chest so the sound was muffled and sent Kurama a glare. "If you screw this up, I will never forgive you." He hissed, shoving the phone in Kurama's hands.

Kurama sent him a panicked look, unsure of what to say. "Uh…Chou?" Naruto smacked him on the head. "That's Italian you moron!" He hissed. Kurama rubbed his head and chuckled into the phone. "Uh, Hi." He muttered. Naruto grabbed the phone from him and set it on speaker.

"I'm Naruto's friend. Kurama." Naruto had never seen Kurama so awkward. Normally the man was vibrant and quick on his feet. Naruto knew he was feeling put on the spot when he began to mess with his long shoulder length orange hair. His red eyes narrowed at the phone in anxiety while people grilled him with questions.

"What king of emergency? Why in China? Are you Chinese? Why did Naruto have to help you?" Sasuke's voice growled. Kurama narrowed his eyes even further. "Why do you care? It is a severe family emergency. I live in China. No I am not Chinese and Naruto had to help me because he is a part of this family!"

That got some silence. Naruto sighed and texted Gaara. _We're in trouble. They've found us again. We have to go find the others, and I need your help. You need to find him. After you find him, you have to find Killer Bee and Gyuki. Gyuki's in Germany. _

He got a quick reply. _I'll help. We've got to keep in touch though. Should I tell them to meet us at the book store?_

_ Yeah. Thanks Gaara._ Naruto replied. "Sure thing." He heard his voice reply through the phone. Kakashi asked him what he meant but Gaara didn't reply.

"We have to go now. See you guys in a while, ok?" Naruto said, hanging up before they could say anything else.

"You sure it's ok to hang up on them?" Kurama asked. Naruto bit his bottom lip. "Yeah. I'll call them again later." He said, turning to grab Kurama's hand. "_We've got to leave!_" He hissed, pulling Kurama out the door. Kurama dug his heels into the ground breaking Naruto's grip. "Wait. I have to delete the evidence." He said, rushing to his computers.

He grabbed a laptop he said everything was backed up on, then made a few strange calls. He finally turned to Naruto with a suspicious looking smile. "What did you do?"

"Let's just say they're going to think we're headed twords Shanghai, not Jeffery's Bay. And there's no evidence I live here. In five minutes, a guy is going to arrive with his family and pretend to live here for me."

"You actually thought ahead?" Naruto asked, shocked. Kurama smirked. "_Now_ let's go." He said, pulling Naruto out the door. They hurried down the 15 flights of stairs, dodging stray cats and full clothes lines.

Finally at the street, they hailed down a cab and climbed in. "Ok, so I'm thinking we should split up." Naruto panted. Kurama nodded. "I guess that makes sense. How should we split it up?" Kurama asked while turning on his lap top.

Naruto thought about it for a bit. "Gaara's going to get Gyuki and Killer Bee. I'll text him to also go find Nii and Matabi and Roushi." He said, sending the text to Gaara. Gaara quickly replied with an 'ok'.

"Gaara's fine with it. I'll take the flight to Jeffery's Bay. Who's there?" He asked, grabbing a sharpie off the floor of the Taxi and using it to write the location of places he'd have to go and who was there.

"Fuu is in Jeffery's Bay, Africa surfing. She won't be hard to find. Choumei is in Brazil working underground. She will be hard to find."

"You should also find Han and Kokou and Son Goku." He added after a moment of thought. "Han is in Houston, Texas working at a horse farm called Amber Oak Farms. Kokou is in Auckland, New Zealand managing a small store called the Curiosity Shop. Son Goku is in Kinsale, Ireland working as a bartender at a pub called the Oceanic Pub." Naruto wrote everything on his arm and the back of his hand, softly chuckling at the names of his old friend's shops.

He texted the location of the people Gaara had to find, then began to book a flight to Africa.

~.~.~

"What do you mean you're leaving!?" Sakura screeched. They were already asked to leave the library, just after Gaara announced he was leaving.

"I don't understand who you are unable to comprehend the sentence, Sakura." He replied coolly. She narrowed her eyes. "Where are you going? And why are you going right this second!?" She asked persistently. He glared at her. "If you must know, I am going to Germany. Then I will be on my way to Australia, then England, then Paris, and finally I will make a stop at Seattle before arriving back here."

Kakashi couldn't tell if the group was more surprised with how much he spoke or with the amount of places he planned to go. He suspected Gaara's sudden trip had something to do with Naruto. He voiced that suspicion.

Gaara licked his lips. "In a way." He said, then he walked down the street. "Where is he going!?" Kiba asked, watching the red head walk down the street. "I think he's going straight to the airport." Ino whispered in shock. "I always saw him as a plan-everything-out kind of guy, not a go-and-figure-it-out-on-the-way- kind of guy."

Hinata nodded. "There he goes." She said, watching him get in a Taxi further down the street that had discount fares for the Airport.

"How does he even have money to go to all of those places? We're in college! We don't have enough money to go to the movies once a month, let alone take a friggin trip around the world!" Sakura shouted.

"Same for Naruto. How did he get the money for a trip to China?" The dark haired one asked. Kakashi furrowed his eyebrows. The dark haired one had a point. "Hey, Rock Lee, that's a good point you made. I think he…what?" Kakashi shrunk back from the glare he dark haired one sent him. "_What_ did you just call me?" He hissed. Kakashi could have sworn his eyes flashed red for a second.

"That's not your name? Sorry!" He apologized, rubbing the back of his head. "My name is Sasuke. I am _not_ that…that…green spandex wearing freak!" He growled, looking very offended.

"Sasuke! Lee isn't so bad! He's an Olympic runner!" Sakura exclaimed, defending the boy. "That's why Sasuke doesn't like him. He can beat Sasuke at something." Ino teased. Sasuke said something about them liking the boy, and they both screeched a protest. Kakashi sighed. It seemed there was no reason to stick around. He turned and left without letting them know. _I'll check up on them later._ He thought, trying to keep his mind on things other than a certain blonde haired boy in China.

~.~.~

Sorry the chapter is short. I wanted it to be longer, but I felt I should update. Hope you like it! Comments and Constructive Criticism are welcome!


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